The present invention is an improvement upon tennis ball retrievers such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,371,950 Stap, and 3,820,836 Seewagen et al.
The Stap patent provides a tennis ball retriever and storage unit including a receptacle with a grate forming the bottom wall. Fixed bars form the grate and are spaced apart at a dimension slightly less than the diameter of the tennis ball so that the ball may be squeezed between the bars to gain entry into the receptacle. Thus, the container may be carried around the tennis court and the bottom of the container may be pressed against loose tennis balls which cause those balls to be squeezed through the bottom grate and into the container. The container, which is filled with balls, is then typically carried to the back line of the tennis court by the player who wishes to practice his serve to provide a supply of balls for that purpose. After the balls are spread around the court, they are gathered again by the retriever.
The Seewagen patent provides a similar structure for the same purpose. The structure includes narrow hinged door-like elements in the bottom of the container to permit ingress of balls through the bottom of the container and to prevent reverse flow of the balls out of the container. The Seewagen patent also provides for two handle members which may be hinged downwardly to provide legs to raise the container to place the container at a more convenient height for manual removal of the balls.
The structure disclosed in the above mentioned prior patents serve a very useful function, but have serious disadvantages and shortcomings as follows:
The users typically use the device of the Stap patent, in particular, in a rather rough manner so as to cause substantial friction and wear upon the bottom structure. This is because of the considerable force required to squeeze balls through the bottom grating, and because the container becomes heavy, and is often dragged along the surface of the tennis court.
Because the balls are squeezed between two bars for ingress into the container in the Stap structure, there is considerable frictional wear on the surface of the balls, tending to remove the outer fuzz on the balls, and changing the playing characteristics of the balls because of that change.
The Stap structure has the further disadvantage that, when once filled, the player must stoop down to pick balls out of the container for each serve. The attempt to solve this problem by the hinged handles of the Seewagen et al patent is not very satisfactory because the downfolded handles do not raise the container very high, and the arrangement is rather makeshift and unstable.
The door-like elements in the Seewagen et al patent are expensive and subject to malfunction.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to overcome the various disadvantages and shortcomings of the above described prior U.S. patents.
More specifically, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved tennis ball retriever and carrier which is not only simple, but which avoids the substantial friction and wear upon the tennis balls.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved tennis ball retriever and carrier which, by the nature of its design, is less subject to physical wear and breakage, and which is better capable of withstanding wear, particularly upon the container bottom.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a tennis ball retriever and carrier which includes improved means for raising the height of the carrier after the tennis balls have been collected.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings.